Mapping Power; The Power of Maps - Department of History



Mapping Power; The Power of Maps

History 598.02 (10557-1)

History 791 A/T (20460-1; 20461-6)

 

Professor Philip Brown                                                                Autumn, 2004

Dulles 146                                                                                    W 9:30 – 11:18; 4:30-6:18

292-0904 Office direct 292-2674 History Office                        Central Classroom 209; 354

Brown.113@osu.edu                                                                    Office hours: T 12:30-1:25;

                                                                                                          W 3-4:30 by appointment

 

Description:  This is a capstone course in historical writing for senior honors history majors.  The subject of the course is the role of maps and map-making in comparative historical perspective – their religious, cultural, social and political significance; their relationship to developments in science, technology, and our awareness of the place of man on earth an in the cosmos.  The fundamental unifying perception of the course is that maps are not just reflections of power, but are active and powerful agents that shape the way we understand our place in numerous worlds:  political, theological, aesthetic, social, and natural.  Students will be able to explore any appropriate region or time period. 

 

Objectives:  A major goal of the course is to hone the skills of history majors in historical writing through the exercise of preparing a substantial research paper on a topic related to the course.  In addition, students will benefit from peer and instructor critique of their paper proposals and drafts, and will hone their oral presentation skills by presenting their research proposals and papers to their classmates.  Regarding the topic of the course, students will acquire familiarity with basic ways in which maps have been used, the parameters of technological change that come to shape modern map-making, and learn to think of maps as interpretive documents with the power to define ?greality.?h 

 

Elaboration:  We take maps and their now-common utilitarian functions for granted, but present uses of maps became possible only with a number of important conceptual, scientific and technological developments.  Yet even before this time, maps had the ability to convey powerful images of our world and our place in it.  More than practical purposes of locating objects in space, pre-modern cartographers used maps to explore the spiritual world or to create objects of art through which creator and owner sought aesthetic fulfillment.

 

The transformation of maps into their present forms and uses accelerated rapidly from the Age of Exploration.  Henry the Navigator, Vasco DaGama, Columbus, and their successors laid the foundations for European discovery and exploration of the Western Hemisphere, Africa and many parts of Asia.  From this time, a motley crew of adventurers, technofile hobbyists and mapmakers gradually resolved fundamental debates over the shape of the earth, the measurement of longitude, the number and shape of continents and much more. In the long run, they built the foundations for the expansion of international trade.  Land measurement, mapping and boundary definition were intimately linked to changing conceptions of the state, definition of the parameters of the state, and diplomatic relations.  More effective cartographic techniques transformed maps into weapons of war. 

 

Within states, developments were closely tied to changes in the role of courts, methods of clarifying and adjudicating property disputes (and therefore, development of enforceable private property rights) that had long-term consequences for economic development.  Mapping extended the tentacles of cold state power into local economies as never before, allowing an unprecedented gathering of economic resources that could be marshaled to finance the expansion of empire.  In the temperate regions of Atlantic North America, ambitious adventurers like Meriwether Lewis, and William mapped a path all the way to the Pacific Northwest (and into PBS video and cyberspace archives).  The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 mapped the model of local government that transformed the wilderness west of the Ohio River into America?fs heartland. Under the earth, William Smith first mapped the geological strata of England, providing a significant foundation for Darwin?fs theories of evolution.

 

A second, mid-twentieth century revolution in mapping, employing new uses of sound and light waves from outside the earth?fs atmosphere and under its oceans, allows us to map natural resources for exploitation and preservation, chart the contractions of ice caps, follow the movement of tectonic plates, guide troops through the midnight darkness of Kuwait and Iraq, and inform police, through Dick-Tracey-cartoon-inspired devices where we are when we call 911 on GPS-equipped cell phones. 

 

This triumphalist tale of technological ?gprogress?h alone provides much grist for our intellectual mill, but there it is only one approach to exploring the role of maps and mapping, the power of maps to shape our understanding of our world and our place in it and the cosmos.  The artistic imagery of good cartography inspires collectors (and thieves) throughout the world.  Staid professors of English literature map the worlds of Faulkner and Joyce.  Expansion of Western scholars?f linguistic abilities has revealed treasures of Arabic, Inca, and Chinese mapping of earth, sky, and the sacred, challenging the uniqueness and accomplishments of Western cartographic traditions throughout much of history.

 

All of this territory and more provide the realms you are invited to explore. 

 

Structure of the course:  Introductory classes will provide a basic introduction to traditional and modern maps, providing a foundation for analyzing and interpreting maps and the ?grealities?h they create.  We will visit with the OSU map librarian and appropriate specialists at the Ohio Historical Museum, both potentially valuable sources for student research data.  Later classes will focus more on discussing student research proposals and presentation of research results. 

 

Class web site:  We employ a web site for a variety of purposes:  maintaining an archive of visual materials presented in class, informal class discussions, posting of certain assignments prior to class so that everyone can have a chance to read them in preparation for class, etc.  Once registered for this class, you should be able to sign in with your normal OSU userID and password at .

 

This course fulfills the 598 requirement toward a history major and category 1.C., the third course in writing skills. 

 

All students must be officially enrolled in the course by the end of the second full week of the quarter.  No requests to add the course will be approved by the department chair after that time.  Enrolling officially and on time is solely the student's responsibility.

 

 

 

Written assignments:

 

A one-page description of a primary source for the study of maps, due in class Week 2 (October 6).  Try to find something related to your likely term paper project; reproductions are acceptable.

 

A book review of five pages on a book related to the course (and preferably to your term paper) but not included in the assigned course readings, due in class Week 4, October 20.

 

A 2-3 page proposal for the term paper, including a description of the topic, the major questions to be addressed, and a representative bibliography, to be discussed in class week 5, October 27.  You must distribute a completed copy of your proposal to the entire class by posting it on the class web site under the designated discussion group by 6 p.m. on the MONDAY which precedes our class  NOTE:  you may post by attaching a Word or other formatted file to your post.  This will maintain formatting.

 

4)      598.02 Students:  A research paper of about 16 – 20 pages on a topic related to the course, due no later than 12:00 p.m. on the day of our scheduled final examination.  GRADUATING SENIORS:  Your paper is due IN CLASS on December 1.  As part of your paper, you will make a presentation to class in which you will discuss changes in problem focus since you first laid out your proposal, sources available, tentative conclusions and evidence.  Treat this as a dry run for the creation of your final paper:  try out ideas, solicit comments and suggestions from class members, etc.  A sentence outline or precis outlining these points should be posted on the class web site by 6 p.m. on the Monday before your presentation so class members will have a chance to review it and give some thought to your work prior to your presentation.

 

5)      791A Students:  A research paper of about 20-25 pages on a topic related to the course, due no later than 12:00 p.m. on the day of our scheduled final examination.   We will follow the same procedure for presentations/discussions as outlined in #4 above.

 

6)      791T Students:  In lieu of a research paper, you are to present/submit a project associated with your teaching.  This can take a variety of forms, but ideally will be something that you can bring to the class to discuss before you use it in class, then use in your work with your students, and then report back to our class on the outcomes.

 

Grading:      attendance and participation                 15%

                     Primary source                                         5%

                     book review                                           15%

                     paper proposal and presentation            20%

                     term paper and presentation                  45%

 

Late work:  All assignments are due in class on the dates specified.  Late work will be downgraded by one letter grade for each day it is late, including weekends.  Work that is four or more days late will not be accepted.  If you are unable to complete the quarter's work on schedule, be prepared to turn in what you have accomplished or accept an "E".  Exceptions to this policy will be made only in dire circumstances (e.g., serious illness, death in the family), which must be documented.    

 

Readings (all the textbooks are available at SBX; copies are also held in the Reserve Reading Room of the Main Library): 

John P. Snyder.  Flattening the Earth:  Two Thousand Years of Map Projections.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1993.  ISBN 0226767477  (= Snyder below)  NOTE:  A copy of this book is held in the Map Room shelves,  GA110 .S576 1993 .

Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 2nd ed. New York: Bedford/St.Martin's, 1998  ISBN: 0312247664  (= Rampolla below) 

NOTE:  Copies of this book are on reserve for a section of History 112 and History 181, and there is not a copy listed under this class.

John N. Wilford.  The Mapmakers. 2nd Ed., New York: Vintage, 2000. ISBN 0375708502 (= Wilford below)

Dennis Wood.  The Power of Maps.  New York, Guilford Press, 1992. ISBN 0898624932 (= Wood below)

Duplications of a variety of secondary sources, graphic images on line, etc.

 

Recommended reference materials:

Corbett & Finkle.  The Little English Handbook.  New York: Harper Collins, 1992  ISBN 0673460487

Anthony Weston.  A Rulebook for Arguments.  Indianapolis/Cambridge:   Hackett Publishers, 1992.  ISBN -872201562

 

 

Weekly Schedule:

(note that assigned reading drops off to almost nothing from the 6th week; you are expected to be reading and analyzing materials for your term paper with high intensity!)

 

Introduction (Sept. 22)

 

Week I (Sept. 29):  Maps are Territories:  interpretive devices and systems of symbols

Reading:    Wilford 3-65.

Wood, 1-27.

David Woodward and J.B. Harley, eds. The History of Cartography (Volume 2; Book 3) selections on pre-Columbian Western maps and mapping; several readings, divided among students) NOTE:  A copy of this set of  books is held in the Map Room shelves,   GA201 .H53 1987 

                  Snyder, 1-54 (lots of valuable illustrations)

                  Rampolla, pp. 1-6

 

Week II (Oct. 6):  Projections, map uses, and the challenges of straightening curved lines

Primary sources due, discussion of them; meeting with OSU Map Librarian, Steve Rogers

          Reading:  Wilford 66-162

                          Snyder, 55-94 (again, lots of pictures; good tabular summaries)

                          David Woodward and J.B. Harley, eds. The History of Cartography (selections on pre-Columbian maps and mapping in China and the Islamic World; several readings, divided among students)

                          Rampolla, pp. 7-19

 

Week III (Oct. 13):  Maps as systems of symbols, representations of culture

          Reading:  Wood, 48-181

                          Wilford, 163-204

                          Snyder, 95-154 (again, lots of pictures; good tabular)

 

Week IV (Oct. 20):  Maps as Art

Book reviews due; discussion of common problems encountered in reading for reviews

          Reading:  David Woodward, ed. Art and Cartography (selections; several readings, divided among students)

                          David Woodward and J.B. Harley, eds. The History of Cartography (selections on maps as art; several readings, divided among students)

 

Week V (Oct. 27):  America Mapping:  From Object to Agent 

Post term paper proposals on designated discussion group on class web site by MONDAY 6 p.m.  Discussion of term paper proposals.

           Reading:  Wilford, 205-473.

 

Week VI (Nov. 3):  Meeting at the Ohio Historical Society??

           Reading:  Rampolla, pp. 21-50 (Use pp. 50-73 as a guide when writing your research paper.   Will discuss on course web site discussion group and in next class  meeting.)

 

Week VII (Nov. 10):  Consultation with professor on research problems

 

Week VIII (Nov. 17):  Student presentations (remember to post appropriate materials on the class web site by 6 p.m. Monday prior to presentations)

 

Week IX (Nov. 24 Thanksgiving???):    Student presentations (remember to post appropriate materials on the class web site by 6 p.m. Monday prior to presentations)

 

Week X  (Dec. 1):  FINAL PROJECTS DUE (Wrap-up as needed)

 

 

Sample Ideas for Research Topics

(also see the sample bibliography below for inspirations)

 

Astronomical mapping

Early modern maps and the extension of state power:  A case study

Historical Atlases and the extension of liberal social sensitivities

Investigation of a cartographer/explorer

Law, the courts, and land measurement/boundary demarcation

Map consciousness and conceptions of property (e.g., compare/contrast issues in white colonial and native American societies)

Maps and policy in governance (Ohio might make a good case study; think of provisions for disaster relief, flood control, provision of water supplies, etc.)

Maps as weapons of war/state secrets

Maps, discrimination, and social policy (issues of integration, red-lining, etc.)

Maps, treaties, and peace settlements

Technological innovation and the development of mapping (early modern, nineteenth century, twentieth century)

 

 

A Suggestive, Sample Bibliography

 

General and Miscellaneous

Art and cartography : six historical essays  edited by David Woodward. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Early thematic mapping in the history of cartography, Arthur H. Robinson. Skelton, R. A. (Raleigh Ashlin), 1906-1970.

Envisioning the city: six studies in urban cartography, edited by David Buisseret. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1998.

How to Lie with Maps.  Mark Monomonier.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1991

Images of the world: the atlas through history, edited by John A. Wolter and Ronald E. Grim. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1997.

Landmarks of mapmaking; an illustrated survey of maps and mapmakers. Maps chosen and displayed by R. V. Tooley; text written by Charles Bricker; preface by Gerald Roe Crone. Amsterdam, Brussels [etc.] Elsevier, 1968.

Maps and civilization: cartography in culture and society, Norman Joseph William. Thrower. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

Maps and History: Constructing Images of the Past Jeremy Black, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

Maps are Territories, Science is an Atlas David Turnbull, Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1989, 1993.

Rural images: estate maps in the Old and New Worlds, edited by David Buisseret. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

The atlas of atlases: the map maker's vision of the world, by Phillip Allen. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1992.

The Cadastral Map in the Service of the State:  A History of Property Mapping. Roger J.P. Kain and Elizabeth Baigent, Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1992.

The History of cartography, edited by J.B. Harley and David Woodward.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987-  This multivolume series will ultimately cover developments throughout the world and across the span of history.

The map that changed the world: William Smith and the birth of modern geology, Simon Winchester; [illustrations by Soun Vannithone] New York: HarperCollins, c2001.

 

Mapping Science and Technology

Five centuries of map printing, edited by David Woodward. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975.

Geography, cartography and nautical science in the Renaissance: the impact of the great discoveries   W.G.L. Randles. Aldershot, Hampshire, Great Britain; Burlington, Vt., USA: AshgateVariorum, c2000.

The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250-1600, Alfred W. Crosby Cambridge [England]; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1997

 

Exploration and Empire

Explorers' maps: chapters in the cartographic record of geographical discovery, by R.A. Skelton. New York: Praeger, [1958]

Mapping an Empire:  The Geographical Construction of British India, 1765-1843. Matthew H. Edney Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1990, 1997.

The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World    By: Ken Alder

Trading territories: mapping the early modern world, Jerry Brotton. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1998.

 

Europe

Cartography by subscription: an unsuccessful 18th century project to issue globes, por D. J. Bryden. Lisboa: Junta de Investiga{oes Cientificas do Ultramar, 1979.

Jean Domenique Cassini and his world map of 1696, by Lloyd A. Brown. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1941

Mappa mundi: the Hereford world map, P.D.A. Harvey. Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

Mapping time and space: how medieval mapmakers viewed their world, Evelyn Edson. London: British Library, 1997.

Monarchs, ministers, and maps: the emergence of cartography as a tool of government in early modern Europe, edited by David Buisseret.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Portolan charts; their origin and characteristics, with a descriptive list of those belonging to the Hispanic society of America, by Edward Luther Stevenson, PH. D. New York [The Knickerbocker press] 1911.

The maps and prints of Paolo Forlani: a descriptive bibliography, David Woodward. Chicago: Newberry Library, 1990.

 

Non-European Old World

Cartographic encounters: perspectives on Native American mapmaking and map use  edited by G. Malcolm Lewis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Chinese Maps: Images of "All under Heaven," Richard Joseph Smith

Isles of gold: Antique maps of Japan. Cortazzi, Hugh.

Japan. A Cartographic Vision. European Printed Maps from the Early 16th to the 19th Century Lutz, Walter (Ed.)

Qing Colonial Enterprise: Ethnography and Cartography in Early Modern China Laura Hostetler, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c2001

Siam mapped: a history of the geo-body of a nation, Thongchai Winichakul. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, c1994.

 

The New World

Cultural map of Wisconsin: a cartographic portrait of the state, David Woodward ... [et al.] Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996.

From sea charts to satellite images: interpreting North American history through maps, edited by David Buisseret. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy     By: Andro Linklater, New York: Walker & Co., 2002

The all-American map: wax engraving and its influence on cartography, David Woodward. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977.

The Mapping of New Spain:  Indigenous Cartography and the Maps of the Relaciones Geograficas.  Barbara E. Mundy.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.

 

Principal Journals

Imago Mundi

Journal Of Historical Geography

(Mercator’Ss World)

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